This 500-Square-Foot Apartment’s Style Is “Maximalist Whimsigoth Wine Aunt”
This 500-square-foot rental apartment in Biddeford, Maine, was a “completely blank slate” when Emily Ambrose began renting it two years ago. “It had been beautifully rehabbed, retrofitted, and restored from the nondescript, bog-standard, acoustic-drop-ceiling-tiled office space into the beautiful, sunny, fresh-walled jewel box full of opportunity I saw during the apartment tour,” Emily begins.
“I gazed at the historically restored tin ceilings, the way the mid-morning sunlight soaked into the restored hardwood floors, and knew this was the nest for me,” she continues. Emily decided to live solo after living with a roommate for seven years and jokingly wrote that they’d “be legally domestic partners if we cohabitated for much longer.”
“I decided to branch out on my own and give solo living a try again. It’s been blissful — especially since I have my dog and cat to keep me company — being on my own,” writes Emily. “I also really appreciate that I can move art, furniture, and houseplants around at any hour of the day when inspiration strikes (which is frequent!) without worrying about disrupting someone else’s sleep or routine.”
In the one-bedroom apartment, the living room takes up a lot of the square footage, which is something Emily’s more than fine with. “The open floor plan allows me a lot of room to play with the layout and to move furniture around despite the relatively small space. It also includes some of my favorite art and treasures on display, and I love entertaining — whether it be the romantasy book club I share with coworkers, or a mellow movie night over a shared bottle of wine with a good pal.”
After two years of renting this 500-square-foot home, Emily says she’s “become something of a pro at organizing a very small space. It also keeps you honest in terms of holding on to anything that isn’t absolutely essential or meaningful. I rarely go shopping in search of a specific item, but when I do, I aim to be intentional and not to compromise: I love my home, and everything in it needs to elevate or uplift the space before I’ll even walk it through the door (or through the check-out line),” she writes.
Resources
LIVING ROOM
- Gold barrel chair — HomeGoods
- Prints — Rifle Paper Co.
- Silk scarf on TV — Maine Botanical Gardens
- Fleece over the chair next to it — From my family’s flock of sheep. The last fleece from our own sheep to belong in the family and an incredibly precious memento.
- Embroidered floral pillow — Sent to me by a dear friend when she lived in Colorado
- Print at the top above the loveseat — By an artist friend
- Edward Gorey print — Belonged to my grandmother, who was a source of inspiration for my love of the spooky and strange.
BEDROOM
- Floral pot — Belonged to my grandparents
- Macramé sling — Custom-designed by a local artisan who hand-wove it to the dimensions of the unique, spherical pot
- Candle on windowsill — Predominantly Black, a Black, woman-owned small business out of California
- Mirror — Found at Goodwill and repainted
- Dresser — I refinished and changed the hardware on (it was free, from a former roommate).
- Wicker bedside table — Goodwill find
- Silver vase — Belonged to my grandmother
- My overstuffed bookshelf — Hand-me-down from a cousin (seen in the mirror reflection)
- Unicorn pinata — A sweet and silly gift from a long-distance friend I keep as a hint of whimsy and a memento of her kindness.
HOME OFFICE
- Purple, puffy mug — Random Pfaltzgraff find on one of the aforementioned rainy day wanders through HomeGoods
- The banner hanging above the desk — Oxford pennant featuring lyrics from one of my favorite bands, a punk outfit out of PA: the Menzingers.
- The Pothos — One of the “children” of the same plant that a friend found on a Portland sidewalk eight or more years ago that I still have! (And many of her children.)
- The blanket thrown over my chair — Crocheted by my aunt
- Quintessentially Millennial letterboard — Features one of my favorite quotes by Rainer Maria Rilke: “Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” A bit more intense than your usual inspirational platitude, but hey! Whatever it takes these days.
- Tiny painting to the right — By a friend and features one of our favorite Always Sunny in Philadelphia quotes: “a nice egg in this trying time.”
Thanks, Emily!
This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
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